Its a Generational Thing? Africa’s young majority is rising. But young people face endemic joblessness, poverty and social exclusion. Is Africa’s youthfulness a demographic gift or curse? In the past, struggles for freedom seized the hearts and minds of the youth. What’s shaping the social consciousness of Africa’s educated young people today? Have the elders…
A large part of philanthropic resources are committed to helping people from low-income and other marginalized communities by helping to alleviate the immediate crises they find themselves in. But the problems often remain. The impact of philanthropy is often constrained by concerns around the symptoms of poverty and injustice, missing in the process the factors…
The Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS) is a foundation that mobilizes financial and technical resources in order to promote women’s rights in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. As an indigenous activist fund they play a key role in building bridges between those that have money and those that have the power to implement changes. In…
Thoughts from the Arab Foundations Forum Meeting, Cairo, Sept 2012 In the wake of the Arab spring, the Arab Foundations Forum met in Cairo on September 16 and 17, 2012 to discuss how they could maximize philanthropic resources in times of change and austerity. It was clear from the start of the conversations that the…
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was set up four days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 to receive the money that was flowing in from the public during that time. At the end of December this year, after 15 years of operation, the Fund will close. Its…
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), York, UK Written by Andrew Milner Mission At a recent meeting of the Board of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), the Trustees wrestled with the wording of a mission statement: how to capture the essence of the organisation in a few words; how to include a sense of the…
Multi Agency Grants Initiative (MAGI) in South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa Written by Andrew Milner Zaide Harneker is a programme manager at MAGI. She recalls her first meeting with one of MAGI’s grantees, the Lethabong Legal Advice Centre in South Africa’s North West Province. Their office was a tiny two-roomed house with an outside toilet.…
Ford Foundation Peace and Social Justice Program, Global Civil Society Portfolio (GCS), New York City, USA Written by Andrew Milner ‘We the invisible’ You work for an NGO that is trying to improve the access to health and education of the poor and vulnerable. By and large, you are doing well. But one day, the…
We have witnessed better results when a social justice and peace lens and approach is used by philanthropy. It enables a focus on root causes and mechanisms that perpetuate injustice as opposed to just alleviating the effects of unjust treatment. However, there remain many questions to be answered about the practice of philanthropy for social…
We are excited to be co-organising an interactive plenary at the upcoming Arab Foundations Forum Annual meeting. Philanthropic resources are typically used to promote human development and ease the symptoms of injustice, largely through services or development projects. Some have begun to question the ultimate impact of these approaches in altering social, economic, and political…